The NES version of Donkey Kong is a port notorious for what it lacks. Besides cutting out some animations, the original game featured 4 different stage layouts, one of which is commonly called the “cement factory” or “pie factory” due to the look of the conveyor-bound objects that move around the bottom portion of the stage. For whatever reason, this stage was completely cut from the NES edition of the game. It’s a puzzling omission to this day: the hardware was certainly capable of rendering it adequately, so why excise it? The make matters worse♉, most re-releases of the game are based on the NES version rather than the original arcade edition, leaving a new generation of gamers without any appreciation for the cement factory.

The situation has changed, however… but only in Europe. While Japanese players are receiving a special edition of Super Mario Bros. with their Super Mario 25th Anniversary Edition Wiis, European consumers are getting something completely different pre-installed: a pཧort of the NES Donkey Kong. But unlike the special edition Super Mario Bros., there’s more to this than just some graphical changes – Nintendo has finally seen fit🐼 to port and add the cement factory level to the game, as well as restore several of the missing animations. Take a look starting at about the 58 second mark in this video:

It’s still not 100% arcade accurate (Donkey Kong doesn’t move around on the top level of the stage like he does in the arcade game)🎉, but it’s still nice that Nintendo put in the effort to mend 💃a port that’s nearly 30 years old.

So Japan gets Super Mario Bros., and Europe gets a significantly improved edition of NES Donkey Kong. What do North Americans get pre-installed on special edition red Wii consoles? Unfortunately, the answer is “diddly squat.” At least we can hold out hope for a Virtual🎀 Console re-release…

Nov 16, 2010